Rice's 'best value' ranking drops

By Michelle Jin     1/28/10 6:00pm

Following a year marked by numerous budget cuts and nearly $1 billion lost from the endowment, The Princeton Review, in conjunction with USA Today, ranked Rice seventh in the nation for "best value private college" for 2010, a drop from previous years. In 2009, Rice ranked fourth and in 2008, Rice ranked first in the same survey. The university has been in the top 10 in the category for five of the past six years.

Despite the drop from last year, Vice President for Finance Kathy Collins said she remained optimistic.

"One important thing to notice is that Rice has done really well, and it has done really well over time," Collins said. "In the last four years, Rice and Swarthmore College are the only two schools that have been in the top 10 all those four years."

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This year, Swarthmore received The Princeton Review's top ranking for "best value private college."

Rice's comparatively low tuition, low student debt upon graduation, need-blind financial aid policy and no-loan threshold of $80,000 - raised from $60,000 last year - all contributed to the "best value" ranking, Collins said.

Collins also said that the fluctuation in Rice's rankings is due to changes each year in how The Princeton Review evaluates the "best value" colleges, as well as changes in other universities' financial aid systems.

"Schools like Harvard and Yale [which ranked second and fifth this year, respectively] have recently been very aggressive on financial aid," Collins said.

Despite the 18 percent drop in Rice's endowment last year, there are no cutbacks planned for the university's financial aid policy, Collins said.

The relatively low cost of tuition, a large determinant in the ranking, is one important factor that attracts students to Rice, Vice President for Enrollment Chris Muñoz.

"Primarily, [what allows Rice to maintain a lower cost than many other schools] is the will to do so," Muñoz said. "Rice has had a history of being conscientious about being affordable for students."

Rice was also ranked first for "quality of life," eighth for "happiest students" and 11th for "race/ class interactions" by The Princeton Review.

To obtain the "best value" ranking, The Princeton Review surveyed students and administrators at over 650 private and public colleges. The rankings were based on a variety of factors in the three areas: financial aid, cost and academics. Students were also surveyed on issues like professor accessibility and class sizes to determine the academic ratings. Surveys and school data determined the financial aid and cost ratings.

Many students agree with Rice's high "best value" ranking.

"I feel like you pay less for a Rice education than for other schools of the same caliber," Jones College junior Hilary Baker-Jennings said.

Some felt Rice's academics were just as competitive as any other institution's in the country.

"Once you graduate, you're in the same pool, academically, as the graduates of Harvard [University] and other Ivy League schools," Lovett College junior May Alkhaldi said. "But you pay much less at Rice."

Yet others felt that the drop in ranking was reflective of increasing tuition costs.

"Tuition has gotten a lot higher since my freshman year," Sid Richardson College senior Jennifer Luo said. "I chose Rice because it was a lot less expensive than other schools, but now it's catching up."

Rice's tuition has been on the rise for years. For instance, in 1994 it cost $9,300 to attend Rice, while the projected cost for the Class of 2013 was $31,430. Some believe that Rice's expansion has made the cost of attending the school increase.

"With Rice trying to expand, [it is] putting a lot of money and attention into creating new housing," Lovett sophomore Aurra Fellows said. "[It is] charging extra fees, like for fitness and recreation."

Rice's relatively small class size and student-teacher ratio is a major factor in the academic experience, according to some students.

"The small campus and small classes strengthen the experience," Sid junior Megha Thakkar said. "It's easy to talk to the professors here. At the University of Texas, you only get to meet with the professors three days after making an appointment."

Others believe that professor-student relationships make Rice unique.

"My brother goes to Michigan State University, where the average class size is 300-400 people, so there's no way for the professor to know who he is," Alkhaldi said.

The "quality of life" ranking is determined from survey questions regarding campus aesthetics, safety, dorms, food and overall happiness of students, among other factors.

"I think [the "quality of life" ranking] is indicating something very real, and our students describe their life outside the classroom as being a really important part of what they value at Rice," Dean of Undergraduates Robin Forman said. "They talk about the residential college experience and the alcohol policy specifically as being examples of the relationship between administrators and faculty and students, relationships of mutual trust and respect."

Nonetheless, some students feel that Rice's expansion has adversely affected the quality of life on campus.

"The food in South Servery has definitely gotten worse, and money [typically used] for these things have been going to the new colleges," Hanszen College sophomore Irene Mbah said. "Expansion has both positive and negative effects, and Rice is definitely suffering for it."

However, some said they believe that the construction of the new colleges reflects the administration's efforts to do what students want.

"Duncan College and McMurtry College are built as greener colleges, so I feel like they are taking into account the concerns of students," Baker College senior Ulyssa Martinez said.

Although students on the south side of campus have raised concerns about the construction, Forman said it will benefit the quality of life for students in the long run.

"There's construction going on in the south which creates a set of disturbances for the students who are living there in the same way that students in the north experienced the construction of Duncan and McMurtry for two years," Forman said. "It's the nature of being part of a community like this. We are sometimes asked to sacrifice some personal conveniences for the good of the community in the same way that those who came before us did so that we can enjoy the facilities that were here when we arrived."

In response to the view among many students that West Servery has better food than the other serveries, Forman said that he believed that the quality of food across campus was the same.

"I understand the campus loves Chef Roger, and I love Chef Roger and I certainly understand the disappointment that accompanies his move to the West Servery," Forman said. "But the opening of a new servery is a pretty complicated process. It's not just cooking food, it's assembling a team ... And he's gotten the servery off to a great start."

Food may provide a community between all students, but Rice still dropped to 11th in "race/class interaction." Nevertheless, many students still believe that Rice is a diverse university.

"There's a good mix of students on campus," Will Rice College senior Randall Baldassarre said. "I have a pretty diverse group of friends."

Still, others feel that there is not enough interaction between people different from themselves.

"From what I've seen, there's a lot of similar people hanging out together," Martel College sophomore Kendra Brown said.

Forman said that the drop in certain rankings is not reflective of changes in Rice.

"This is not a scientific survey, and I don't put much significance into being No. 1, 5 or 10," Forman said. "They're looking on the order of 400 institutions. Being No. 2 versus No. 11 isn't that significant. It really is an unscientific measure to the Rice experience.

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